1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus having a liquid ejection head which ejects liquid.
2. Description of Related Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-132025 discloses an ink-jet printer including four ink-jet heads and a maintenance unit. The four ink-jet heads are arranged side by side in a paper conveyance direction. The maintenance unit performs maintenance on the four ink-jet heads. In the ink-jet printer, the maintenance unit has a support member, a blade, a wipe roller, an ink absorber, and four caps. The support member is horizontally movable along a paper conveyance direction. The blade, the wipe roller, the ink absorber, and the four caps are mounted on the support member. When the maintenance unit is in a purge position, each cap covers a nozzle face and a purge operation is performed so that ink is ejected from nozzles toward the cap. Then, each cap gets separated from the nozzle face. While the maintenance unit is moving to a withdrawal position, the ink absorber, the wipe roller, and the blade sequentially get opposed to the nozzle faces so that ink is absorbed and wiped off by the respective members. In this way, maintenance is performed on the four ink-jet heads.
In the ink-jet printer disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-132025 mentioned above, the withdrawal position of the maintenance unit is located downstream of the ink-jet heads in the paper conveyance direction, which increases a size of the ink-jet printer with respect to the paper conveyance direction.